The Dow Continues its 5-Day Slump

Markets continued their slump today, with losses piling up and the Dow diving down. Lower share prices weren't just confined to the US, as markets across the world suffered heavy losses. In trading today, the Dow dipped 127.94 points to close out the trading day at 17,440.59. The NASDAQ fell 48.85 points, leading the three major indices in losses. It closed at 5,039.78. The S&P 500 followed suit, losing 12.01 points and closing out the day at 2,067.64.

Shares of drugmaker Mylan (MYL) fell today, after Teva (TEVA) announced it would stop pursuing a $40 billion takeover bid.

Teva instead set their sights on a similar bid for fellow drugmaker Allegan (AGN).

Mylan fell by 14.51% after the big was withdrawn, a sign that shareholders were betting on the takeover to push share prices even higher. Mylan lost 9.57 points on the day, and closed at $56.37 per share. Allegan was up on the news that it had become Teva's latest takeover target, adding just over 6% to its share prices and closing up 18.77 points to $326.98. Teva shot up 16%, adding 10.15 points to close the trading day at $72.00 per share.

The price of oil is near year-long lows and falling, and it's taking the entire Energy Minerals sector down with it. Contract driller Newfield Exploration (NFX) felt the pain today, as it released an earnings report that showed just how much the falling price of oil is affecting the sector. Newfield dipped nearly 6% on the day, losing 1.90 points to close at $30.88 per share.

In a sign that things in the Health Services sector may be healthier than the rest of the market, insurer Humana (HUM) posted gains today. Humana wasn't the only company to recover in the Health Services sector, with Biogen (BIIB) bouncing back from huge losses today. Fellow biotech firm Amgen (AMGN) also posted gains for the sector, which leads all other sectors in growth over the trailing 3 months.

Shareholders of Twitter (TWTR) got a big surprise today, when its earnings report leaked early. The report was scheduled for tomorrow, but an unnamed source has made the documents available a day ahead of time. Things don't look great for the social media company, which has revised its guidance for the coming quarters. Although the company is still cash-heavy, it's struggling to find new investments that will payoff in the long run.